Olympic history: Moscow 1980 | London Spy - Yahoo Sport Olympic history: Moscow 1980 . The Kremlin makes an appearance at the opening ceremony The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 was the trigger for the boycott of the Moscow Olympics the following year. Estimates of the impact in terms of numbers vary, and reports suggest some nations used the boycott as a convenient excuse to stay away because of economic issues. View gallery . Mischa the Olympic bear - the cuddly side of Moscow 1980 The significance has less to do with the quantity of absentees — possibly as low as 45, maybe as high as 60-plus — than with the quality. The United States led the boycott and were supported by Canada, West Germany, Japan, China, Kenya and more. A total of 80 nations competed — the lowest since 1956 — and some did so under the Olympic flag rather than their own. So the scene was set for some unfamiliar names to make their mark, and none more so than Zimbabwe. As Rhodesia, the African nation had been banned from the previous two Games.

It returned with a new identity, free of apartheid and good enough to win the inaugural women's hockey gold medal, albeit in something of a makeshift competition. The hosts won at least one gold medal for every sport except hockey, in which India won the last of their men's gold medals, and football, won by Czechoslovakia. View gallery Duncan Goodhew powers to 100m breaststroke gold for Britain View gallery . Weightlifting legend Vasily Alekseyev Every gymnastics medal went to eastern Europe. Nadia Comăneci won two golds and two silvers for Romania in her last Games and there were two golds for Soviet star Nellie Kim. Nikolai Andrianov won two golds, two silvers and a bronze to take his medal total to 15 from three Games, a men's record beaten only by Michael Phelps. His team mate Alexander Dityatin won a medal in each of the gymnastics events, his record of eight medals in one Games again matched only by Phelps. East Germany won 11 out of 14 rowing golds and all but two of the women's swimming gold medals.

In boxing the Soviets were beaten into second place by Cuba, literally in the case of Téofilo Stevenson, the big-hitter who defeated Piotr Zaev to become the first fighter to win three consecutive heavyweight gold medals. The next boycott, of Los Angeles in 1984, would deny him the chance of a fourth success. Viktor Saneev came up short in his bid for a fourth consecutive triple jump gold, but there were suggestions it took some dubious "foul" calls against his opponents, by Soviet judges, for the champion to even achieve silver. View gallery Alan Wells (lane eight) wins gold for Britain in the 100m final View gallery . Steve Ovett beats Sebastian Coe at 800m Waldemar Cierpinski of East Germany won a second successive marathon. Allan Wells became the first British winner of the 100m since Harold Abrahams in 1924 and two great rivals provided further British success, Steve Ovett at 800m and Sebastian — now Lord — Coe at 1,500m. View gallery .

Coe gains revenge in the 1,500m Miruts Yifter, who was denied the chance to improve on his 10,000m bronze in Munich by Ethiopia's boycott of Montreal, returned to win that event and the 5,000m. There were a number of twin successes. Sergei Beloglazov won freestyle wrestling gold at bantamweight and twin Anatoli conquered the flyweight class. Walter and Ullrich Diessner were members of East Germany's successful coxed four. Their compatriots Jörg and Bernd Landvoigt beat the Soviet twins Yuri and Nikolay Pimenov to win the coxless pairs. They would be followed by a twin disappointment when the Soviets responded to the American-led boycott of the Moscow Olympics by leading east European nations and a few other sympathisers in their own boycott when the 1984 Games went to Los Angeles. Top three performances 1-Miruts Yifter (ETH) - Doubled up with golds in the 5000m and 10000m. 2-Teofilo Stevenson (CUB) - The Cuban amateur boxing legend won his third heavyweight gold.

3-Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe (GBR) - Split the glory at 800m and 1500m, each winning the other's stronger event. Did you know? The USA led a boycott of the Games in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. British athletes were allowed to compete, but only under the Olympic Flag. 21 per cent of the competitors were female, more than at any previous Olympics. Austrian rider Elisabeth Theurer was ordered not to compete by her national federation. However, F1 star Niki Lauda flew her to Moscow in his private jet and she duly won gold. View gallery 1980 Summer Olympics : definition of 1980 Summer Olympics and synonyms of 1980 Summer Olympics (English) Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium Badge, released in the USSR The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union . In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn , and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament were held in Leningrad , Kiev , and Minsk .

The 1980 Games were the first to be staged in Eastern Europe. The United States and a number of other countries boycotted the games because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan , though some athletes from some of the boycotting countries participated in the games, under the Olympic Flag . This prompted the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics . Some of the later events of the games were also nearly mired by the death and unauthorized mass funeral of the immensely popular and beloved singer-songwriter Vladimir Vysotsky . [2] Contents Overview Olympic Village as it appeared in February 2004 Although approximately half of the 24 countries that boycotted the 1976 Summer Olympics (over the apartheid issue in South Africa) participated in these games, the 1980 Summer Olympics were disrupted by another, even larger, boycott led by the United States in protest of the 1979 Soviet war in Afghanistan . [5] Many of the boycotting nations participated instead in the Liberty Bell Classic (also known as the "Olympic Boycott Games") in Philadelphia . Eighty nations participated – the smallest number since 1956 .

However, the nations that did compete had won 71% of the medals, including 71% of the gold medals, at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. As a form of protest against the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, fifteen countries marched in the Opening Ceremony with the Olympic Flag instead of with their national flags, and the Olympic Flag and Olympic Hymn were used at Medal Ceremonies when athletes from these countries won medals. Competitors from one country – New Zealand – competed under their association flag, the flag of the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association [6] Some of the teams who marched under other than their national flags were depleted by boycotts by individual athletes, and others did not march. Italy won four times as many gold medals as it did in Montreal and France multiplied its gold medal results by three. Romania won more gold medals than it had at any previous Olympics. In terms of total medals, this was Ireland's most successful Olympics since Melbourne 1956 . The same was true for Great Britain. " Third World " athletes qualified for more events and took more medals than at any previous Olympics. 21% of the competitors were female – a higher percentage than at any previous Olympics.

There were 203 events – more than at any previous Olympics. 36 World records, 39 European records and 74 Olympic records were set. In total this was more records than were set at Montreal. New Olympic records were set 241 times over the course of the competitions and world records were beaten 97 times. Prince Alexandre de Merode of Belgium, Chairman of the IOC Medical Commission, stated: "There were 9,292 drug tests. None positive". Four Olympic records set in 1980 still stood as of 2008 [update] – East German women 4×100 metre relay 41.6 seconds; Shot Put Ilona Slupianek of East Germany 22.41 metres; Soviet Nadezhda Olizarenko 800 metres, 1:53.43; Modern Pentathlon Soviet Anatoli Starostin 5568 points. The impact of the boycott was mixed. Some events, like field hockey and equestrian sports, were hard hit.

Others like boxing, judo, rowing, swimming, track and field and weightlifting actually had more participants than in 1976. Eight nations appeared for the first time at an Olympics – Angola , Botswana , Laos , Nicaragua , Seychelles , Mozambique and Cyprus . Zimbabwe also made its first appearance under that name; it had previously competed as Rhodesia . Athletes from 25 countries won Olympic gold (the same total as in the 1984 Games and one fewer than in the 1976 Games) and competitors from 36 countries became Olympic medalists. 1980 Summer Olympics Torch Major broadcasters of the Games were USSR State TV and Radio (1,370 accreditation cards), Eurovision (31 countries, 818 cards) and Intervision (11 countries, 342 cards). [7] Asahi TV with 68 cards provided coverage for Japan, while OTI representing the Spanish-speaking world received 59 cards and the Seven Network provided coverage for Australia (48 cards). [7] NBC , which had intended to be another major broadcaster, canceled its coverage in response to the U.S.

boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, and became a minor broadcaster with 56 accreditation cards, [7] although the network did air highlights and recaps of the games on a regular basis. ( ABC aired scenes of the opening ceremony during its Nightline program, and promised highlights each night, but the next night, the show announced that they could not air any highlights as NBC still had exclusive broadcast rights in the USA.) The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation almost canceled their plans for coverage after Canada took part in the boycott and was represented by nine cards. [7] The television centre used 20 television channels, compared to 16 for the Montreal Games, 12 for the Munich Games , and seven for the Mexico City Games . During the opening ceremony, Salyut 6 crew Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin sent their greetings to the Olympians and wished them happy starts in the live communication between the station and the Central Lenin Stadium. They appeared on the stadium's scoreboard and their voices were translated via loud speakers .

[8] According to the Official Report, submitted to the IOC by the NOC of the USSR , total expenditures for the preparations for and staging of the Games were 862.7 million rubles , total revenues being 744.8 million rubles. A series of commemorative coins was released in the USSR in 1977–1980 to commemorate the event. It consisted of five platinum coins , six gold coins , 28 silver coins and six copper-nickel coins. The Games attracted five million spectators, an increase of 1.5 million from the Montreal Games. There were 1,245 referees from 78 countries. At the closing ceremony, the Los Angeles city flag , rather than the United States flag , was raised to symbolize the next host of the Olympic Games, and the Olympic flag was handed over to the IOC President rather than to the mayor of Los Angeles. This was the first time that the Olympic Flag Handover took place during the closing ceremony.

Highlights 1977 USSR commemorative stamp issued for the archery event Opening ceremony Main article: Archery at the 1980 Summer Olympics Tomi Poikolainen of Finland, who had not finished any of the previous 3 days shootings higher than 4th, came from 4th on the last day to win the men's archery competition, scoring 2455 points. He won gold just three points ahead of a Soviet. The women's archery gold was won by Ketevan Losaberidze (USSR) who was also the world, European and Soviet champion. The women's archery silver was won by Natalia Butuzova (USSR). In 1979 she had set nine national records and three world records. Athletics Main article: Athletics at the 1980 Summer Olympics Ethiopian Miruts Yifter won the 5000 metre and 10000 metre athletics double, emulating Lasse Virén 's 1972 and 1976 performances.

"I have a 90% chance of winning the 1,500 metres" wrote Steve Ovett in an article he did for one of Britain's Sunday papers just before the start of the Olympics. After he won the 800 metre Olympic gold, beating world-record holder Sebastian Coe , Ovett stated that he would not only win the 1,500 metres, but would beat the world record by as much as four seconds. Ovett had won 45 straight 1,500 meter races since May 1977. In contrast Coe had competed in only 8 1,500 meter races between 1976–1980. Coe won, however, holding off Ovett in the final lap. Ovett finished third. Scotsman Allan Wells beat Cuban Silvio Leonard to become the first Briton since 1924 to win the Olympic 100 meters. It was the closest 100 m race at the Olympics in 28 years, ending in a photo finish in which both runners timed at 10.25 seconds.

Gerd Wessig – who had made the East German team only 2 weeks before the Games – easily won the gold medal with a 2.36m (7'9") high jump. This was 9 cm higher than he had ever jumped before. For the first time in history the world record in high jump was broken at the Olympic Games. The 1980 Olympic women's long jump competition produced a surprise when the 3rd string Soviet jumper, Tatiana Kolpakova , bested her compatriots and other competitors by setting a new Olympic record of 7.06m (23'2"). Poland's Władysław Kozakiewicz won the pole vault with a jump of 5.78m (18'11.5") – only the 2nd pole vaulting world record to be established during an Olympics. The previous time had been at the Antwerp Olympics 1920 . In the pole vault competition, despite pleas for silence in three languages, jeers, chants and whistles among the different factions in the crowd supporting French, Soviet and Polish pole vaulters could be heard.

Immediately after Kozakiewicz secured his gold medal, he responded to the jeering Soviet crowds with an obscene bent elbow gesture . This gesture is now referred to in Polish as "Kozakiewicz's gesture". In the pole vault an athlete topped the Olympic record by 15 cm (6"), yet finished fourth. Similarly, athletes who broke the Olympic record in men's high jump by 5 cm (2"), the women's long jump by 13 cm (5"), and the women's javelin by 60 cm (2'), wound up no better than fourth. A total of 12 track and field athletes performed so well that their scores would have won any previous Olympics, yet failed to win a medal at Moscow. In the long jump competition, three women beat 23 feet (7.0 m) for the first time ever in one competition. Waldemar Cierpinski of the German Democratic Republic ( East Germany ) won his second consecutive marathon gold. Bärbel Wöckel , also of the GDR, winner of the 200 metres in Montreal, became the first woman to retain the title.

Tatiana Kazankina (USSR) retained the 1,500m title that she had won in Montreal. Soviet walker Anatoly Solomin was leading the 20 km walk with 1 lap to go when he was disqualified. The race was won by a hitherto little known Italian, Maurizio Damilano , in an Olympic record time. For the first time in the history of the Olympics all 8 male participants in the long jump final beat the mark of 8 metres. Spain and Bulgaria earned their first ever medals in Men's track. Lutz Dombrowski (GDR) won the long jump gold. His was the longest jump recorded at sea level and he became only the 2nd human to jump further than 28 feet (8.5 m). In the triple jump final Viktor Saneyev who won gold at Mexico, Munich and Montreal won silver behind his compatriot Jaak Uudmäe . Yuriy Sedykh (USSR) won gold in the hammer throw event. 4 of his 6 throws broke the world record of 80m.No hammer thrower in the world had ever achieved this before.

As in Montreal the USSR win gold, silver and bronze in this event. Evelin Jahl (GDR) the 1976 Olympic champion won discus gold again. She won with a new Olympic record – 69.96m. She had been undefeated since Montreal. Cuba's María Caridad Colón won the women's javelin setting a new Olympic record and beating the favored Soviet throwers. Sara Simeoni of Italy won the women's high jump, setting a new Olympic record. She had won a silver in the 1976 Games and would go on to win a silver in the 1984 Games. In track-and-field six world records, 18 Olympic records and nine best results of the year were registered. In women's track and field events alone either a world or Olympic record was broken in almost every event. Daley Thompson of Great Britain won the gold in the Decathlon. He won gold again at the L.A. Olympics. Soviet Dainis Kula won gold in the men's javelin. He also had the best sum total of throws, showing his consistency. He finished ahead of his teammate Alexander Makarov.

IAAF President Adrian Paulen of the Netherlands said "Whereas at the 1976 Games in Montreal the Jury of Appeal had to deal with 16 protests, the fact remains that in Moscow there were only two. This was the smallest number of protests at any Olympic Games since Tokyo 1964". Basketball Main article: Basketball at the 1980 Summer Olympics Basketball was one of the hard hit sports due to the boycott. Though replacements were found, five men's teams including the defending Olympic Champion United States withdrew from the competition in addition to the US Women's team. In the Women's competition, the host Soviet Union won the competition beating Bulgaria for Gold, Yugoslavia won Bronze. The Men's competition featured only the second instance of the US Men's Basketball team failing to win Gold with the first one being in Munich . Yugoslavia took home the gold beating Italy in the final. The host Soviet Union, winners in 1972, won the bronze. Boxing Main article: Boxing at the 1980 Summer Olympics Teófilo Stevenson of Cuba became the first boxer to win three consecutive Olympic titles in heavyweight, the only boxer to win the same event in 3 Games.

( László Papp from Hungary was the first boxer to win three titles). In boxing Cuba won 6 gold, 2 silvers and 2 bronzes, a haul only equaled once before in the entire history of the Olympics (by the USA at St. Louis in 1904 when there were hardly any other boxers from other nations present). The USSR won 1 gold medal, the same as Italy, Yugoslavia, East Germany and Bulgaria. The Val Barker Trophy is presented by the International Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) to the competitor adjudged to be the best stylist at the Games. The winner was Patrizio Oliva of Italy who won gold at light-welterweight. In his final Oliva defeated Serik Konakbaev (USSR). In 1979 Konakbaev had beaten Oliva in the final of the European Championships. Donald F. Hull, U.S. president of the Amateur International Boxing Federation (IABA) said "I consider the organization of the present boxing tournament to be the best among the last 3 Olympics".

Canoeing Main article: Canoeing at the 1980 Summer Olympics The prophets of the canoeing world had predicted that the USSR would triumph in at least 9 of the 11 classes for which there were gold medals to be won at the 1980 Olympic regatta. At Montreal the USSR had won 6 of 11 titles and at Munich 6 out of 7. Sergei Postrekhin ( USSR ) was favored to win the single canoe 1,000 metres gold but is beaten by Lubomir Lubenov of Bulgaria. In canoeing Australia won its first medal since 1956. Ivan Patzaichin (Romania) won gold medals over a 16 year period,1968–1984. Apart from the boycott of the LA Olympics Birgit Fischer ( East Germany ) won medals in each Olympics from 1980–2004. In the 500 metres kayak singles for women she won gold in Moscow, silver in Seoul , gold in Barcelona . Uladzimir Parfianovich of the USSR won 3 gold medals in canoeing .

Cycling Main article: Cycling at the 1980 Summer Olympics Lothar Thoms of East Germany won the 1,000 metre individual pursuit cycling gold, breaking the world record by nearly 4 seconds. The surprise winner of the bronze in that race was Jamaica's David Weller who also broke the 16 year old world record. In the 4,000 metre team pursuit qualifying heats new world indoor records were set 8 times. In the 4,000 metre individual pursuit the Olympic flag was flown for all 3 medal winning positions – Switzerland gold, France silver, Denmark bronze. Robert Dill-Bundi became the 1st Olympic champion in the history of Swiss cycling. The 189 kilometer individual road race gold was won by Sergei Sukhoruchenkov ( USSR ). British team manager Peter Crinnon called it "The greatest exhibition of power riding ever". Sukhoruchenkov is voted best racer in the world by the International Amateur Cycling Federation . In this race only a photo-finish can tell the next 2 finishers apart, giving the silver medal to the Polish cyclist and the bronze to a Soviet cyclist.

The cycling team road race is won by the Soviet team as they had done in Munich and Montreal . In cycling world records were toppled 21 times. Diving Main article: Diving at the 1980 Summer Olympics As Aleksandr Portnov waited to do a 2 and 1/2 reverse somersault in the springboard final, cheers broke out in three adjoining swimming pool during the closing stages of Salnikov's world record breaking 1,500m swim. The diver delayed his start until the noise had subsided but, as he took his first steps along the board, even greater cheers broke out as Salnikov touched in under 15 minutes. Under the rules Portnov, having started, could not stop before take-off. He crashed badly. On protest to the Swedish referee G.Olander he was allowed to repeat the dive and went ahead again of Mexico's Carlos Girón . Later protests by Mexico against the re-dive and by East Germany that their Falk Hoffmann wanted to re-dive after allegedly being disturbed by photographic flashlights were both turned down by the International Amateur Swimming Federation ( FINA ).

FINA President Javier Ostas of Mexico stated that the decision taken by the Swedish referee was the "correct one. FINA assessed all the Olympic diving events and considers the judging to have been objective". Portnov remained the winner with Giron taking silver and Cagnatto of Italy bronze. Martina Jaschke ( East Germany ) was 4th after the preliminary high dives, behind 2 Soviets and a Mexican, but came back to win gold on the second day of competition. Irina Kalinina ( USSR ) won gold in the springboard final. As a result of her 10 dives in the preliminaries she amassed a unique number of points : 478.86. In the previous 4 years no diver had scored so many. In this final the Mexican judge A.Marsikal allowed Karin Guthke ( East Germany ) re-take a dive. Guthke then won bronze ahead of the Soviet Zhanna Tsirulnikova.

Equestrian Main article: Equestrian at the 1980 Summer Olympics In the individual show jumping event Poland's Jan Kowalczyk and the USSR's Nikolai Koralkov beach had 8 faults, but Kowalczyk won gold as his horse completed the course the quicker. So Poland won the last of the 203 gold medals contested. Austrian horsewoman Elisabeth Theurer , despite the decision of the federation of equestrian sports of her country not to participate in the Olympics, was flown to Moscow by former racing driver Niki Lauda . Theurer won the gold medal in the dressage competition. The oldest medalist at the Moscow Olympics was Petre Rosca (Romania) in the dressage at 57 years 283 days. Fencing Soviet foil fencers, who had taken possession of all the World and Olympic titles, were not among the 6 challengers in the finals. The Soviet 5 time world champion Alexander Romankov won a bronze. France took 4 golds in fencing, an Olympic record in the post World War II era.

In the team sabre fencing final, for the 5th Olympics in a row, Italy and the USSR met. The USSR won as they did in Tokyo, Mexico and Montreal. In the men's foil final the USSR and France record 8 wins each but the Frenchmen made more hits and this won them the gold. Football Main article: Football at the 1980 Summer Olympics Pins released by the USSR for the football event of the Olympics (with a British 50 pence coin for size comparison) The USSR were favorites to win gold in football but won bronze instead. Czechoslovakia won the gold medal beating German Democratic Republic (East Germany) 1:0 in the final. After many years in the doldrums, Olympic football had a revival in 1980 when the matches attracted nearly 2 million spectators. Gymnastics Main article: Gymnastics at the 1980 Summer Olympics Soviet gymnast Alexander Dityatin won a medal in each of the eight gymnastics events, including three titles. He was the first athlete to win 8 medals at an Olympics.

He scored several 10s, the first perfect scores in men's gymnastics since the 1924 Paris Olympics. Nikolai Andrianov who had won gold on floor at both Munich and Montreal was pipped this time by Roland Bruckner of East Germany. Andrianov retained the vault title he had won in Montreal. Zoltán Magyar (Hungary) retained the Olympic title on pommel horse that he had won in Montreal. He was also 3 times World champion and 3 times European champion on this piece of apparatus. In women's gymnastics the USSR won 1 medal in the All-Around competition. In each Olympics before this they had always won 2 and in Rome 1960 had won all 3. In the Friendship Games at Olomouc '84 and at Seoul '88 they would win 2 again. In the Team Competition they won the gold medal for the eighth time, continuing the "gold" series started in 1952.

In the women's gymnastics event finals, a Romanian gymnast medals on each piece of apparatus for the first time: Vault – Melita Ruhn (bronze) In women's gymnastics there was a judging scandal when the Romanian head judge refused to post the score of her fellow Romanian Nadia Comăneci . This score gave Comaneci a silver medal behind Yelena Davydova of the USSR, but the Romanian judge, Mili Simionescu , tried to persuade the other judges to increase Comaneci's score so that she would win gold. After the Olympics, Simionescu was severely criticized by the International Gymnastics Federation . Before the LA Olympics, the United States gymnastics federation proposed a change in the rules so that a head judge cannot interfere and meddle in the scoring of competitors. Handball East Germany beat the USSR 23–22 in the handball final to take their first medal of any sort in the men's event. Hockey Main article: Field hockey at the 1980 Summer Olympics Women's field hockey was an Olympic sport for the first time. Six countries competed: Austria, India, Poland, Czechoslovakia , USSR , and Zimbabwe.

The gold medal was won by the team of Zimbabwe ahead of the firm favorites of the USSR who won bronze. Zimbabwe did not learn it would get a place in the tournament until 35 days before the Games began and chose its team only the weekend before the opening ceremony. None of their players had prior playing experience on an artificial surface. They had not trained at all together before the tournament and warmed up by playing some friendly matches with different Soviet club teams. India won a record 8th title in men's field hockey. Judo Main article: Judo at the 1980 Summer Olympics In Japan's absence, the USSR was expected to improve its showing in judo but wound up with 5 medals, the same as Montreal, despite the fact that there were 2 more weight categories. 15 countries shared the medals in judo, more than the record 12 countries in Munich and Montreal. Modern Pentathlon Main article: Modern Pentathlon at the 1980 Summer Olympics In the women's pentathlon the Soviet Nadezhda Tkachenko scored 5,083 points to become the first athlete to exceed 5,000 points in the event during Olympic competition.

Although she won the silver medal Olga Rukavishnikova (USSR) held the world record for 0.4 seconds as she finished 1st in the last event of 800m.That gave her the shortest reign of any world record holder ever. In the men's Pentathlon Anatoly Starostin (USSR) became the youngest ever Olympic champion in this sport. 26 competitors scored over 5,000 points. In Munich 12 topped this mark and in Montreal 21. It was the 1st time ever at either a world championship or an Olympics that as many as 8 teams topped the 15,000 point level. In the modern pentathlon George Horvath (Sweden) recorded a perfect score in the pistol shoot. It had been achieved only once before, at the 1936 Olympics. Rowing Main article: Rowing at the 1980 Summer Olympics East Germany dominated rowing , winning eleven of the fourteen titles. The East German men won 7 out of 8 events, foiled from achieving a clean sweep by Pertti Karppinen of Finland (who defended his Olympic title from Montreal ).

East German women won 4 of their 6 events. The Soviets had been expected to win most of these titles considering their success at Munich and Montreal . The East German women's eights team win gold despite only having been selected 3 months before the Olympics began. In the rowing eights with coxswain the British team win silver just 0.74 seconds behind East Germany . The Britons had never rowed together before the Olympic trials and had only 10 weeks to prepare for Moscow. The stroke, Richard Stanhope, had never stroked on an 8 man shell before and in the final their steering broke. Pirita Yachting Centre as it appears today Sailing Main article: Sailing at the 1980 Summer Olympics Sailing event was held in Tallinn, Estonia which was at the time one of the soviet republics. Soviet sailor Valentyn Mankin won a gold medal in "Star" class. He won Olympic champion titles in "Finn" and "Tempest" classes before, and as of 2007 [update] remains the only sailor in Olympic history to win gold medals in three different classes.

Finland (gold) won its first gold Olympic yachting medal and Ireland (silver) won its first ever Olympic yachting medal. The USSR had its worst Olympic regatta since Mexico 1968 . In 1980 the medals were awarded to yachtsmen from 12 countries, the widest medal distribution in the sport at an Olympics. Shooting Main article: Shooting at the 1980 Summer Olympics The 3-day skeet shooting marathon was won by Hans Kjeld Rasmussen of Denmark, the 2nd Olympic gold for Danish shooters since the 1900 Paris Games . In the smallbore rifle, prone event, Hungarian Károly Varga captured the gold and equalled the world record despite having broken his shooting hand just prior to the competition. Swimming Main article: Swimming at the 1980 Summer Olympics Rica Reinisch with her Gold medal in 200 m Vladimir Salnikov ( USSR ) won three gold medals in swimming. He became the first man in history to break the magic 15 minute barrier in the 1500 metre freestyle, swimming's equivalent of breaking the 4-minute mile.

He missed the LA Games because of the boycott but won gold again in this event at Seoul 88. Salnikov also won gold in the 4x200m relay and the 400m freestyle. In the 400m freestyle he set a new Olympic record which was just eleven-hundredths of a second outside his own world record. In the Montreal final of the 400m freestyle the 7th and 8th place finalists finished in over 4 minutes. In Moscow 16 swimmers finished in under 4 minutes and 8 of them didn't make the final. Duncan Goodhew of Great Britain won the 100 metres breaststroke, beating Miskarov, a strongly favoured Soviet, into second place by half a second. Sweden's Bengt Baron , participating in his 1st major international competition, won gold in the 100 meter backstroke ahead of 2 Soviets. In the men's 4×100 metres medley relay each of the 8 teams taking part in the final broke its country's national record.

The first Australian gold since 1972 came in the 4×100 men's medley relay. [9] The Australians had been expecting to win silver behind the hot favourites from the USSR but with Neil Brooks swimming the final leg, the Australians swam the 2nd fastest time in history. East German women dominated the swimming events, winning 9 of 11 individual titles, both the relays and setting 6 world records. They also won all 3 medals in 6 different races. In total they won 26 of the available 35 medals. Barbara Krause (East Germany) became the first woman to go under 55 seconds for the 100 m freestyle. Backstroker Rica Reinisch (East Germany) was 20th in the world rankings for 100m in 1979 and not in the top 100 for the 200 m. At the Olympics she broke the world records in both distances winning golds. In the 100m butterfly Caren Metschuk (East Germany) beats her more experienced team-mate Andrea Pollack to win gold.

Petra Schneider ( East Germany) shaved 3 seconds off the world record in the 400m medley. As in Montreal the Soviet women made a clean sweep of the medals in the 200m breaststroke. Yulia Bogdanova (USSR), the recent world title winner in the 200m breaststroke did not qualify for the Olympic final, the title in this event was won by her teammate Lina Kačiušytė . The Soviet women swimmers in the 4×100 metres freestyle relay were disqualified. Michelle Ford (Australia) won the 800m freestyle more than 4 seconds ahead of her East German rivals. In swimming 230 national, 22 Olympic and 10 World records were set. Poland won its first ever swimming medal. The youngest male gold medallist of these Olympics was Hungarian backstroke swimmer Sándor Wladár , 17 years and 1 week old. Volleyball Main article: Volleyball at the 1980 Summer Olympics The prominent nation in both volleyball competitions was the USSR; only once had their teams failed to reach the final.

The Soviet men and women had lost only 6 games between them in the 5 Olympics since volleyball was incorporated into the list of Olympic sports at Tokyo 1964. Water polo Hungary won a bronze medal in waterpolo. This continued their run of always winning a medal in this event since 1924. Weightlifting Main article: Weightlifting at the 1980 Summer Olympics The standard of weightlifting was the highest in the history of the Olympics. There were 18 senior world records,2 junior world records, more than 100 Olympic records and 108 national records set. The oldest of weightlifting's Olympic records – the snatch in the lightweight class set in 1964 – was bettered 13 times. 56 kg: Daniel Núñez (Cuba) won gold ahead of the favourite Yurik Sarkisian (USSR). 60 kg: Viktor Mazin (USSR), holder of all the world records in this class, was the expected winner with a new Olympic record total. But if only Marek Sewelyn (Poland) had succeeded with his last jerk, he would have scored a surprise win.

After fixing the 162.5 kg bar overhead, he let it fall while making a faulty recovery. 90 kg: After the 1976 Olympic champion and undisputed favourite, David Rigert (USSR) failed to register a snatch, Peter Baczako (Hungary) became the surprise winner. Yurik Vardanyan (USSR) became the 1st middleweight to total more than 400 kg. In the super heavyweight class Vasily Alexeyev (USSR) Olympic champion at Munich and Montreal, 8 times world champion and who in his career set 80 world records, failed to make a single lift. The new category in weightlifting – up to 100 kg – was won by Ota Zaremba of Czechoslovakia. Wrestling Main article: Wrestling at the 1980 Summer Olympics In Greco-Roman wrestling Ferenc Kocsis of Hungary was declared the winner of the 163 pound class when the Olympic and Soviet defending champion Anatoly Bykov was disqualified for passivity.

1980 witnessed the first ever "Graeco" to win a Greco-Roman title at an Olympics; Greece's Stilianos Migiakis took the gold in the featherweight division. In the 106 pound freestyle wrestling final Italy's Claudio Pollio put Soviet grappler and twice world champion Sergei Kornilaev to the mat to take an unexpected gold on point standings. None of the experts rated the Bulgarian welterweight freestyle wrestler Valentin Raitchev. He had no experience of international competition but won gold. The Soviet national head coach said that Nikolai Balboshin – the reigning Olympic champion from Montreal – was unbeatable in his heavyweight division. However Balboshin failed to win a medal. Closing ceremony Participating nations Number of athletes sent per nation A total of 81 nations were represented at the Moscow Games, but Liberia withdrew after marching in the Opening Ceremony, so a total of 80 nations actually competed. Despite the large boycott, six nations made their first Olympic appearance in 1980: Angola, Botswana, Jordan, Laos, Mozambique, and Seychelles.

Cyprus made its debut at the Summer Olympics, but had appeared earlier at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid . Sri Lanka competed for the first time under its new name (previously as Ceylon), Benin had competed previously as Dahomey and Zimbabwe competed for the first time under that name (previously as Rhodesia). In the following list, the number in parentheses indicates the number of athletes from each nation that competed in Moscow. Nations in italics competed under the Olympic flag. London 2012: Allan Wells on winning 100m gold in 1980 - BBC Sport BBC Sport London 2012: Allan Wells on winning 100m gold in 1980 By Peter Scrivener Read more about sharing. Wells (left) pipped Leonard to the Olympic 100m title in Moscow 32 years ago Allan Wells will never forget the picture of the dead child sent to his home in an attempt to persuade him to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

The British government had resorted to the shocking tactic as a way of encouraging athletes to join the United States-led protest over the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. But far from keeping Wells away from the Olympics, the gut-wrenching image actually made his mind up to go. And in the face of the political pressure and mental trauma, the Scot would go on to enjoy what he says is the most significant moment of his life - winning 100m gold. WELLS ON BOLT I'll be interested to see if he can achieve the four gold medals and I'll be the first to say he is a freak among freaks. We could see something really special from Bolt, he could really burn up the track. It could be phenomenal but Yohan Blake will give him a hell of a race in the 200m and Tyson Gay will challenge in the 100m. I just hope he can get himself to London clear of injury. "One of the pictures I received from 10 Downing Street was of what looked like a dead young girl, face down, with an outstretched arm reaching for a doll," Wells tells BBC Sport.

The package was one of four that the Wells household received in the run-up to the Games. Alan's wife Margot had kept the others away from him before curiosity intervened. "The letter had words to the effect that this is what the Soviet army are doing in Afghanistan," continued the 59-year-old. "It was a truly horrific picture and that is why I will never, or can never, forget it." The government's questionable tactics backfired, however, as Wells not only vowed to compete but came within a whisker of completing the 100m and 200m double. "I was going and that decision was taken when I saw the letter with the picture in it," says Wells. "You've got to sit up when you get letters from the government and I gave it a lot of respect, but if I didn't go it wasn't going to make any difference to what was happening in Afghanistan. "Thankfully, the British Olympic Association took the same stance in respect of allowing the athletes as individuals to make up their own minds." DID YOU KNOW? Allan Wells began his career as a triple jumper and long jumper, and after retiring he became a coach for the British bobsleigh team.

Wells still holds the Scottish records for the 100m (10.11) and the 200m (20.21). Wells ran a British record 10.11 seconds to reach the semi-final and followed that with a 10.27 to earn a place in the final. "Everything worked 100% until I got to the final," he says. "There was apprehension, public pressure - it wasn't something deep, just something I was aware of. "I was standing on the starting line and saying, 'This is the Olympic final, this is the first time you've ever been here, it might be the last.' "All sorts of little gremlins can go through your head. I've always said the six inches between your ears is your make or break.

It could knock 10 bells out of you or help you achieve what I achieved." However, his victory was devalued by those who felt the absence of the Americans weakened the field - although he would go on to beat the top American sprinters in the weeks after the Olympics - and while Wells conceded that the boycott gave him a better chance of success, he reasons: "You've still got to make the final before you try to win an Olympic gold medal." Wells, running in lane eight, edged out Cuba's Silvio Leonard by the smallest possible margin to become, at the age of 28, the oldest man to win the 100m at that time. A false start did little to ease his nerves but it did give Wells the opportunity to improve on a poor reaction the first time the gun had gone off. WELLS ON ONE-START RULE I remember getting down for the fifth time and I was getting fed up. You've loaded yourself up psychologically and physically to go on the gun and when you go I don't think you ever get back up there.

If you are knowingly going to take a false start then you haven't loaded up so you can walk back and load up, whereas everyone else has lost that 1% and that's enough to lose the race. That's why it should be one start and you're out. "I had a bad start and I told myself I had to get hold of myself and get out and run," he says. "I had Osvaldo Lara [in lane seven] trying to put pressure on me and I wasn't happy with the second start. "I think Lara was running for his countryman Leonard and I didn't get to him until about 30m and past him at about 60m. After that, it was between Leonard and I. "We were too far away to be able to physically compete and know where each other was [Leonard was in lane one]. If we'd been in adjacent lanes it would have been different." Both sprinters were awarded a time of 10.25 seconds but Wells's famous dip won him the race. "They were showing a replay on the big screen, for the first time ever at an Olympics," Wells recalls.

"It was quite blurry but I did feel I just edged it and that's when I decided I'd do a lap of honour and off I went. "I was hoping I wasn't going to be the most embarrassed Olympian in that stadium that night and fortunately I wasn't." In a nod to the boycott, all five British winners in Moscow - Steve Ovett (800m), Sebastian Coe (1500m), Daley Thompson (decathlon) and Duncan Goodhew (100m breaststroke) - received their medals under the Olympic flag while the Olympic anthem was played instead of God Save the Queen. "That was the least we could do and while it was a wee bit disappointing [not to have the Union Flag raised], it was justifiable," said Wells. Later in the Games, Wells almost added the 200m gold medal but this time he was the one edged out on the line. "People forget about the 200m and a win may have changed a lot of things," said Wells. "I was up against Italy's world record holder, Pietro Mennea, and he had physical and mental energy that he hadn't used up in the 100m.

"Did I have the psychological hunger to go out and win another Olympic gold medal? If I hadn't won the 100m, my attitude to the 200m would have been different. "It was only in the last 15m that he came up on my shoulder and I took a couple of hundredths of a second off him with my dip. I thought I'd got him on the line but in real terms it was about eight inches, two-hundredths of a second. "It may have changed a lot of things [had I won] but to make a final is a fantastic achievement and to win a medal of any colour is phenomenal. "To win a gold, sometimes I have to pinch myself and think I did win that medal. It was the most significant thing that's ever happened in my life." Share this page Moscow 1980 Olympic Games | XXII Olympiad Politics and Boycotts Moscow 1980 Olympic Games Ξ Moscow 1980 Olympic Games - XXII Olympiad The 1980 Olympics in Moscow were strange because there was no America team. As a consequence the Soviet Union (hosts) and East Germany dominated the medal table.

As a result no other country collected more than 8 gold medals. This was the era when one country or another sought to make a political point by boycotting the Olympic Games. Will and Guy muse that it's a shame more politicians aren't sportsmen and sportswomen, then they may see the good that games in general, and the Olympic Games in particular do for their societies. Outstanding Achievements at the Moscow 1980 Olympics British highlights include Allan Wells winning the 100m and Coe and Ovett winning the 1500m and 800m respectively. In the swimming pool Duncan Goodhew - he of the bald head - won the 100m breaststroke. He later went on to be an outstanding sports ambassador. Waldemar Cierpinski of GDR (East Germany) won his second consecutive marathon gold. Teófilo Stevenson of Cuba won the heavyweight gold medal for the third time. While it is a shame he never turned professional; however, his record of three successive gold medals at this weight will surely never be beaten. It may never be known how little or how much drug taking took place at these Moscow Olympic Games.

The fact that there were no reported positive tests is suspicious in itself - in the sense that the drug cheats had superior chemistry than the testers. Two world records that stand to this day are under particular suspicion of being drug fuelled. Both were set by East German women, the 4x100m relay time of 41.6 and the 800m in 1:53:43. Daley Thomson Daley Thompson won gold in the Decathlon. He would win again in 1984. His arch rival, Jurgen Hingsen, was so much bigger it seemed unfair. Hingsen's best for the individual events was better than Thompson's yet in ten head-to-head competitions Daley Thompson won every time. This leads Will and Guy to think that even among Olympians, we doubt if any were more dedicated, single minded or just plain determined to win than Daley Thompson. A Minor Splash in the Moscow Diving Final This was just a drop in the ocean as far as Olympic scandals go.

What happened was Aleksandr Portnov was waiting to perform his dive in the springboard final when cheers broke out in the adjoining swimming pool, because local hero Salnikov's was swimming in the 1,500m final. Portnov delayed his start until the noise had subsided but, as he took his first steps along the board, even greater cheers broke out as Salnikov won. Under the rules of diving, as Portnov had started, so he should finish. But having begun his run up, he could not stop before take-off and dived badly. On protest to the Swedish referee Olander Portnov was allowed to retake his dive, and as a result went ahead of Mexico's Carlos Giron. Naturally, the the Mexicans protested and even the East Germans got into the act and argued that their Falk Hoffmann had been disturbed by photographic flashlights. When the waters calmed, Portnov remained the winner with Giron taking silver and Cagnatto of Italy bronze. Please send us your interesting facts and trivia for the Moscow 1980 Olympic games.

If you like this page then please share it with your friends London 2012 Olympics: The private school that produced eight of the Olympians - Telegraph Advertisement London 2012 Olympics: The private school that produced eight of the Olympians Millfield in Somerset offers pupils a choice of almost 30 sports and has more alumni in the Games than any other school. Image 1 of 2 Millfield in Somerset includes an equestrian centre, 13 tennis courts and an athletics arena Photo: CHRISTINE BOYD Peter Wilson is a former pupil of Millfield School. Photo: ANDREW BOYERS/ACTION IMAGES By Rosa Silverman 3:35PM BST 07 Aug 2012 Team GB’s Olympians hail from all over the country, but one school has produced a disproportionate number of them. Millfield in Somerset, a £10,000 per term boarding school, educated two of the 2012 gold medal winners and seven other competitors. Peter Wilson, who claimed victory in the double trap shooting last week, attended the school between 2000 and 2005.

His was the second gold medal for Millfield alumni at the London Games, following Helen Glover’s achievement in the women’s rowing pair. Millfield is the highest represented British school at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with a total of nine representatives spanning seven sports. Related Articles London 2012 Olympics: Helen Glover only began rowing four years ago 01 Aug 2012 It says this reflects its breadth and depth of sports provision, which includes an equestrian centre, 13 tennis courts and an athletics arena. The other Millfield-educated British Olympians at the London Games are James Disney-May, (swimming), Sophie Williams, (fencing) and Carl Myerscough (shotput). Alumni representing other countries are Ian Haley, playing hockey for South Africa, Christina Schütze playing hockey for Germany, and Arthur Lanigan O’Keefe, competing in the modern pentathlon for Ireland. Morgyn Peters, a current year 11 pupil, will compete in the paralympic swimming. Millfield has been represented at every Games since 1956, boasting a total of 54 Olympic athletes among its alumni.

Among them are Mary Bignal Rand, who won gold, silver and bronze in athletics at the 1964 Olympics, Duncan Goodhew, who won gold in the 100m breaststroke at the 1980 Olympics, and Mark Foster, who swam at ﬁve Olympic Games. Seven Millfield Olympians have competed while still at school. Dr Graeme Maw, the school’s director of sport, said: “Range of opportunity ranks high in the reasons why one school can enjoy such an illustrious Olympic track record. “Millfield is proud to offer close to 30 different sports to ensure all 1,700 pupils are engaged. “The range ensures that individuals’ skills and enthusiasms can be matched and that, echoing the school’s original ethos, their crucial inner spark can be set alight.” Millfield fact box

Question: Which British man won a gold medal in the 100m Breaststroke atthe 1980 Olympics in Moscow?
Answer: DUNCAN GOODHEW